A handful of heroes search for hope in the grim future of post drop Los Angeles.

A blog for your campaign

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.

In which our heroes scavenge a shopping mall and are attacked by random a-holes

For various reasons, these three decide that going on an expedition to scavenge an old military base off to the north could be beneficial. Garth seems to think that there should be something left of value there, having recently come from there after being cryogenically frozen for god knows how long. Military base sounded promising to Martin, and Nameless decided to come along to try and persuade us away from our covetous, materialistic ways.

We started off by taking the trail from Grafton down to an old highway and began travelling in a northwesterly direction. As we arrived at a sort of crossroads in the highway, we came upon an old shopping mall complex. We deiced to stop ans see what we could scavenge.

We first began with the wrecked cars outside, which yielded nothing of value. Nameless nodded in approval – His work of destroying and abandoning Evil Technology has already been done for him out here. Garth had no luck finding parts for his newly acquired pickup truck (at a cost of many hours of labor to the explorer brothers in Grafton), and Martin also came up with nothing useful from these vehicles.

They then moved inside the mall. Bloomingdales didn’t look real promising, so they skipped that store and moved inside the halls of the mall. After finding some likely technology stores in the mall directory, they raided Electronics Boutique, Radioshack, and Mike’s computers, acquiring a few electrical parts, some random software, and a laptop computer that needs some work, but looks like it could be servicable with a few key components.

As they noticed an outdoors store on the other side of a large gap of collapsed floor (second floor of the mall), the suddenly heard some growling from behind them. There was a rather large, angry looking dog that had snuck up on them. Nameless, having some skill handling animals like his donkey companion, realized that the dog was probably hungry, so he slowly approached him and fed him some of his food. The dog grabbed a large hunk of jerky and scampered off, leaving us alone for the moment.

Nameless then managed to climb over to the outdoors store and went to find a rope. After a longish wait he reappeared with rope, and a bulge in his burlap sack that wasn’t there before. He helped the other two over and they merrily scavenged the outdoors store for various survival supplies.

[Out of character note: The fools neglected to grab binoculars from the pretty much untouched treasure trove of survival gear, and for some reason could not find any water purifiers…and the cash register at the front was also conspicuously missing. :P ]

They then gained access to the maintenance area of the mall, where they found a full mechanical toolkit and a locker that contained a shotgun. Martin took the toolkit, and Garth armed himself with the shotgun.

After merrily scavenging the mall, the three continued on. They met some guys with crossbows on top of a building who informed them that this was a toll road. They got two of our six mini propane tanks, and we moved on.

Later the spied a man riding a horse approaching them. The smart ones hid in a nearby building while Nameless went and chatted with the stranger, who had the look of some kind of cowboy, hat and all. He waved to the hiding ones as he walked by after finishing talking to Nameless, who then reported that he was looking for someone in a purple and red jacket or something. They moved on, camped for the night, and arrived at the military base the next day.

The dog from the mall had apparently followed the group and appeared again after a day of useless scavenging. Nameless insisted on a burial of the bodies we found expired in the remains of the cryogenic chamber that Garth emerged from. Nameless was incited at the site of this place, and began spouting a sermon on how these men placed their trust in technology and were betrayed by it. The other two did their best to ignore him, as they hid the still active computer banks from the incited luddite, hoping he wouldn’t smash them before they had a chance to come back and figure out how to access them (they are, for the moment, password protected, and beyond their skills to crack).

Nameless and Martin continued to feed the dog as they made camp, and it settled just around the edge of the camp for the night as they all turned in…

...only to be awoken by a barking dog and a braying donkey in the middle of the night. The three rushed to their feet, Martin panning around with his newly acquired flashlight, discovering four men dressed in tattered leathers with knives and chains closing in on the camp. They charged in, attacking Garth and Martin. One of them tore a bloody gash in Martin’s torso, hitting something vital clearly. Martin staggered back and tottered on his feet, but remained standing, although visibly distracted by his injuries, and shot with his pistol. Garth blew one away with the shotgun. The dog charged into the fray and bit savagely at one of the attackers. Nameless got into hand to hand combat using some impressive martial arts to batter down the attackers.

We received some assistance from a hidden attacker in the forest, who helped Garth fell one of the attackers with a rifle shot from the woods, and soon after the gangers were defeated. The mysterious benefactor introduced himself as “Jack”, and said he had been pursuing those gangers for some time, and that he was glad to see them dead. He then asked if he could travel with us, since there’s safety in numbers. This seemed reasonable, so the three accepted, although Nameless was strangely silent through the whole exchange…

The group hurried back to Grafton the next morning to seek some medical attention for Martin’s crippling wounds, arriving safely back there without incident.

In which our heroes make friends with some tribal people

When we last left our heroes they had scuttled back to Grafton after being attacked by some random a-holes. Thanks to some swift medical attention from Doc Greenwood, Martin has avoided any permanent injury from the nasty beating he took.

Some time has passed as everyone recovers and continues to work for subsistence. A few new faces emerge from the crowd in Grafton, and with a bit of convincing from Nameless, another expedition into the wastelands is arranged. Nameless is interested in exploring the tribal territories to the north – he wants to show us how people can live piously in ignorance of technology. The group grudgingly accepts this to Nameless, but secretly most of them figure that if the tribals are ignorant of technology, there might be some good salvage opportunities that are just waiting to be had.

Either way, the group sets out on foot. After some time they spy an old cell phone tower, which they arrive at and scav for parts after taking a very roundabout route getting there (Martin’s navigation skills improve after this debaucle as one of his companions provides him with a compass).

From the location of the tower the group is better able to get a lay of the valleys below. They notice a river that branches two ways off in the distance, and a bridge. They decide to go investigate.

Eventually they arrive at an old campground. They find a map of the national park they’re currently in in one of the remaining buildings and decide that it may be useful to investigate the two ranger stations in the park. As they are setting up camp for the night, they encounter a group of the tribal people.

Hostilities are avoided as the group explains themselves, and how they don’t want to encroach on the hunting grounds of the Anaheim Tribe. From this exchange, the leader, head tracker Komana Hobar, concludes that our heroes are warriors. He asks if they would come see the chief of his tribe to aid in a dispute that the Anaheim tribe has with that Chino tribe that lives to the north. Anxious to prove their friendly intent, the group agrees to at least see the chief, if for no other reason than to establish friendly relations.

The following day they arrive at Anaheim Tribe’s village. They speak with Chief Craggon about the situation. Apparently the Chino tribe has used black magic to destroy Anaheim’s wards, and now the village is having some trouble with wolves attacking their people. Some of the party members are interested in these supposed wards, and their inquiries are directed toward the village’s head Mystic, Bellara the Wise…

...But Bellara is very reluctant to tell the heroes anything about the wards. She says that that information is only for those initiated as mystics of the tribe. In order to gain access to this information, they would have to undergo a ritual in which they must face their greatest fear in order to cleanse their spirits. Nameless, Martin, and Garth all agree to attempt the ritual in order to satisfy their curiosity, but of the 3 only Martin manages to remain in a hut with his drug-induced fears all night, the other two abandoning the ritual under mental duress.

Martin is shown the wards the following day. Most of it looks fairly mundane, except for a small metal box that the tribals call a “relic”. It is some sort of EM generator that kept the wolves away (I guess it’s some kind of high-frequency noise generator?). The power source appears to be depleted – so the failure of the wards was no black magic after all, but a simple failure of the device. Martin, in his excitement, tried to relay this information to Bellara, asking her to warn the chief not to initiate attacks on the Chino tribe, but he was a bit too overzealous with his techno-babble about the device. Bellara just patted him on the head and suggested that perhaps he needed to undergo additional spiritual cleansing.

Martin returns to the group and explains that they could stop a war if they could find a power cell for their “protective relic”.

Meanwhile, Doc Greenwood manages to convince Bellara that he too is a mystic of sorts, and after aiding her in alleviating one of the villagers’ arthritis symptoms, he acquires a small quantity of her herbs to supplement his medical supplies.

Later in the day the village is attacked by a massive wolf, which out heroes manage to defeat before it does any serious harm to any of the villagers. After seeing this massive beast, it is clear that Anaheim needs their “ward” restored quickly.

Martin vows to Bellara that he will return with a way of fixing Anaheim’s ward. She dismisses him saying that if he feels a quest will help, he can go ahead. She is not at all convinced that Martin can repair the ward.

The Google Bot provides a list of locations for the various questions you asked it. The questions regarding gun shops, hospitals, malls and gas stations return a number of locations. You will need to procure a map of Los Angeles to make sense of where most of these things are. You do recognize a possible position of a gun shop and a medical clinic in the vicinity of Grafton, these will be added to your map for the next session. You quickly conclude that gas stations are far too numerous and prominent for the answers you’ve obtained to do much good, though you do note the location of the Torrance Refinery.

The other half of your questions focus on power cells. You learn that the city of Los Angeles had been investing in new hydrogen fuel cell technology for a number of it’s power needs and has some large scale fuel cell power plants. These power plants were hoped to eventually work without need for fossil fuels and are potentially a valuable resource. You note that the Los Angeles Department of Power and Water has installed them in a couple of locations.

You also learn that the California State University at Los Angeles was also conducting work with power cells – both fuel cells similar to those being used by the city and smaller models that might serve your purposes.

Finally, I can’t help but wonder if I’ve made some list of suspected terrorists for googling up “los angeles gun shops” and “los angeles gasoline refineries” and “los angeles hospitals”.

In which our heroes find a Marine base (and its well-armed inhabitants) and have a close encounter with Googlebot.

Barry’s been a-slackin. Here’s the highlights of the last game:

A group of us set off in search of a power source for the “relic” that powers the Anaheim tribe’s wards. Martin thinly veils his pompous desire to prove the savages wrong about their magic with his human desire to prevent a war between Anaheim tribe and Chino tribe. Ans so we set off…to the West!

After making a brief stopover at the mall to finish scavenging the outdoors store (binoculars, yay!) [there’s nothing of value left there now], we circle around the toll road and strike off down the highway. After various sundry forks (see map for details), we manage to bump into an old marine base. We notice that there are apparently working security cameras. We decide to stake the place out for signs of life for the rest of the day.

Next day, having seen no activity, we waltz in. Lo and behold, Hazelkin labs is housed here!. But first thing’s first, we go to find where all the security cameras are patched in. We find the original security center, but nothing’s going on in there. At this point we check the cameras, and they appear to be patched into the power grid in such a way as for them to have power, but for the rest of the building to remain unpowered. It also becomes obvious at this point that this surveilance equipment is fairly newly installed.

We decide to press on and go check out Hazelkin labs for some clues about the power cell for the device the savages have. As we walk through a corridor with glass wall towards the outside, we notice a group of people in swat gear with assault rifles. We snatch a few files from the labs and book it. Apparently there are very well armed occupants on the other side of those cameras!.

Martin resolves to try and talk to these people, since he really wants the information in the labs and would rather not get shot at for his efforts. He scrawls a note on the back of one of the stolen files and holds it up at the security camera at the front gate of the compound. Eventually he is met by a group of the occupants, and with their leave, brings Garth with him inside to broker a deal.

The trade is information about the surrounding area/people in exchange for access to the labs to grab information. Martin agrees and imparts them with basic location information. They then let him and Garth look through the labs. Martin finds a blueprint for the device, including its power cell. Our heroes part ways with the occupants of the Marine base somewhat amicably, and although there is by no means a welcome mat laid out on their doorstep, we get the feeling that if it were something important that we came back for, we probably wouldn’t get shot on sight…

well, “probably” being the key word here.

On our way back to Grafton, the group encounters a large metal construct lumbering jauntily down the highway. It approaches the group:

“Greetings friends. Have you heard of our latest new product, FaceTube?”

The large robot had the following logo emblazoned on its chest:

“Google”

After a short altercation in which Chuck proves that Googlebot can indeed defend itself, we proceed to ask it a bunch of questions. Apparently it’s a fully functioning mobile search engine. See below for bunch of information.

OMG the DM TPK'd us!

Sharuum the Hegemon (Piloted by our illustrious DM) slays Intet the Dreamer, Sliver Legion, and Bladewing the Risen without taking a single point of damage. The party receives zero experience for failing to complete an objective and failing to survive.

"Why does everyone always point guns at us?" - Patch

So Patch, Martin, and Garth decide to go check out the university in search of a power cell.

The group makes a small detour around the toll road and arrives at the university campus near dusk. They decide that exploring in the dark would be ill-advised, so they set up camp at in a parking complex on the outskirts of the campus. As the evening turns into night, they start making out electric lights in some of the buildings, as well as some spotlights acting as beacons coming from the track and field area of campus. It appears that some people are gathering to watch an event there.

Upon closer investigation, they discover that there is a sort of gladiatorial fight going on, and it is being overseen by a handful of thugs armed with scavenged firearms, mostly. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, the group retreats to the relative safety of the parking garage for the night.

The next day they begin exploring the campus. They find an information kiosk which has a handy little map for them to follow. After checking out some ruined classrooms in the science buildings, the decide to check out one of the building that was lit the night before on the way over to the hydrogen power station on the other side of the campus.

And then there was some armed thugs, a bunch of shooting, and although the thugs were defeated, Garth was mortally wounded in the combat by a gunshot to the head, along with a myriad of other messy injuries. Patch and Martin decide to hightail it after raising the alarm with all this gunfire, but not before bursting into the hydrogen fuel station, knocking out one of the guards cold, and securing a portable power cell. In the confusion of all this, they also end up agreeing to take the poor technician who was being forced to work the power plant against his will by the thugs, and the three of them beat a hasty retreat…